Electric Ladyland is the third and final studio album by English-American rock band the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released by Reprise Records in North America and Track Records in the UK in October 1968, the double album was the only record from the band produced by Jimi Hendrix. By mid-November, it had charted at number one in the United States, where it spent two weeks at the top spot. Electric Ladyland was the Experience's most commercially successful release and their only number one album. It peaked at number six in the UK, where it spent 12 weeks on the chart.

Electric Ladyland included a cover of the Bob Dylan song, "All Along the Watchtower", which became the Experience's highest-selling single and their only top 40 hit in the US, peaking at number 20; the single reached number five in the UK. Although the album confounded critics in 1968, it has since been viewed as Hendrix's best work and one of the greatest rock records of all time. Electric Ladyland has been featured on many greatest-album lists, including Q magazine's 2003 list of the 100 greatest albums and Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, on which it was ranked 55th.

Hendrix was famous for his studio perfectionism; he and drummer Mitch Mitchell recorded over 50 takes of "Gypsy Eyes" over three sessions.[3] Hendrix was insecure about his voice and often recorded his vocals hidden behind studio screens. He sang backing vocals himself on the title track and on "Long Hot Summer Night".[4] As recording progressed, Chandler became frustrated with Hendrix's perfectionism and his demands for repeated takes.[5]

Hendrix allowed friends and guests to join them in the studio, which contributed to a chaotic and crowded environment in the control room and led Chandler to sever his professional relationship with Hendrix.[5] Bassist Noel Redding recalled: "There were tons of people in the studio; you couldn't move. It was a party, not a session."[6]

Redding, who had formed his own band in mid-1968, Fat Mattress, found it increasingly difficult to fulfill his commitments with the Experience, so Hendrix played many of the bass parts.[5] The album's cover states that it was "produced and directed by Jimi Hendrix".[5] The double LP was the only Experience album mixed entirely in stereo.[7]

According to music journalist David Stubbs, Electric Ladyland is "undoubtedly a rock album, albeit rock on the point of evolving into something else."[10]Uncut magazine's John Robinson said that its music reconciles the psychedelic pop of Hendrix's earlier recordings with the aggressive funk he would explore on his 1970 album Band of Gypsys.[11] During its recording, Kramer experimented with innovative studio techniques such as backmasking, chorus effect, echo, and flanging, which AllMusic's Cub Koda said recontextualized Hendrix's psychedelic and funk sounds on the album.[12]

Track Records used its art department, which produced a cover image by photographer David Montgomery, who also shot the inside cover portrait of Hendrix, depicting nineteen nude women lounging in front of a black background.[19] Hendrix expressed initial displeasure and surprise with this "naked lady" cover (but later told Rolling Stone Magazine that he 'dug it anyway')[20], much as he was displeased with the Axis: Bold as Love cover which he found disrespectful.[21] The cover was banned by several record dealers as "pornographic", while others sold it with the gatefold cover turned inside out, or in a brown wrapper.[22]

Electric Ladyland was released in the US on October 16, 1968.[24] It was a "hit psychedelic album", Richie Unterberger later wrote,[25] and by mid-November, it had reached number one in the US, spending two weeks atop the pop charts.[26] The double LP was the Experience's most commercially successful release and Hendrix's only number-one album.[27] In the UK, it peaked at number six and charted for 12 weeks.[28]

Electric Ladyland confounded contemporary critics; reviewers praised some of its songs but felt the album lacked structure and sounded too dense.[29]Melody Maker called it "mixed-up and muddled", with the exception of "All Along the Watchtower", which the magazine called a masterpiece.[29] In a negative review for Rolling Stone, Tony Glover preferred the less difficult "Little Miss Strange" to songs such as "Voodoo Chile" and "1983", which he said were marred by reactively harsh playing.[29]Robert Christgau was more enthusiastic in Stereo Review, regarding it as an explosive showcase of rock's "most important recent innovation"—the "heavy" guitar aesthetic—and "an integrated work-in-itself in more ways than one". He found the production exceptional—"the best job of stereo for its own sake I know"—and was surprisingly impressed by the quality of the lyrics. While most guitarists in rock believed improvisation to be a straightforward endeavor, Christgau said "Hendrix achieves unique effects, effects you'll never get from Kenny Burrell", citing "Voodoo Chile" as an example.[30] He later named Electric Ladyland the fifth-best album of 1968 in his ballot for Jazz & Pop magazine's critics poll.[31]

Over time, Electric Ladyland's critical standing improved significantly, with author and musicologist John Perry describing it as "one of the greatest double-albums in Rock."[39] According to author Michael Heatley, "most critics agree" that the album was "the fullest realization of Jimi's far-reaching ambitions"; Guitar World editor Noe Goldwasser called it his greatest work.[40] The record was also deemed an essential hard rock album in Tom Larson's 2004 book History of Rock and Roll,[41] and Clash reviewer Robin Murray viewed it as a "true classic of the psychedelic rock era".[42] In a retrospective review for Blender, Christgau wrote that it was the definitive work of psychedelic music,[32] describing the record as "an aural utopia that accommodates both ingrained conflict and sweet, vague spiritual yearnings, held together by a master musician".[43] In Charlotte Greig's opinion, much like Are You Experienced, Electric Ladyland was "groundbreaking, introducing audiences to a style of psychedelic rock rooted in the blues".[44]

Electric Ladyland has been featured on many greatest album lists, including a number 10 ranking on Classic Rock magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Rock Albums Ever,[45] and number 37 on The Times' 100 Best Albums of All Time.[46] Music journalist and author Peter Doggett argued that it is very likely the greatest rock album of all time because of its exceptional concept, artful melodies, experimentation, and skilled musicianship, which he felt remains unparalleled by any other rock artist.[47] In 2003, Q magazine included it on its list of the 100 greatest albums ever,[48] while Rolling Stone ranked it 54th on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[49]

As was common with multi-LP albums, sides one and four were pressed back to back on the same platter, likewise sides two and three. This was called auto-coupling or automatic sequence and was intended to make it easier to play through the entire album in sequence on automatic record-changers. In this case it has led to some CD releases of Electric Ladyland that have the sides in the incorrect one-four-two-three order. The cassette tape version altered the running order to keep both sides of the tape as equal as possible, a standard practice.[citation needed]

A new 50th anniversary edition was announced in September 2018 and is due to release in November of that year. It features Hendrix's originally intended cover, and will be available as a box-set with either a Blu-ray disc and 3 x CD or a Blu-ray disc and 6 X Vinyl. The Blu-ray includes a 5.1 surround mix. [50]

^"Let the Good Times Roll" was later added to "Come On" on some releases

^The original LP version of "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" is 13:39 and "Moon, Turn the Tides...Gently, Gently Away" is 1:01, the total being 14:40. On the "Nudes" version, "1983" is 4:49 while "Moon, Turn the Tides" is 9:54, the total being 14:43.[citation needed]

^Heatley 2009, p. 102: "All Along the Watchtower" was Hendrix's only US top 40 hit single; : "All Along the Watchtower" was Hendrix's highest-selling single; Roberts 2005, p. 232: peak UK chart position for Hendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower"; Whitburn 2010, p. 294: peak US chart position for Hendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower".

^Roberts 2005, p. 232: peak UK chart position for "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"; Shadwick 2003, p. 118: "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" was Hendrix's first recorded song to feature the use of a wah-wah pedal.